In Taylor Swift’s Folklore love triangle, “Cardigan” represents Betty’s perspective.
The three connected songs are “Cardigan,” “august,” and “Betty.” “Cardigan” follows Betty, “Betty” is told from James’s perspective, and “august” presents the viewpoint of the unnamed girl involved in James’s summer romance.
The characters are fictional parts of Folklore’s imagined narratives rather than direct portraits officially identified as real people. Swift used the triangle to explore how the same emotional situation can look different depending on who is telling the story.
A related detail is that the names Betty, James, and Inez were inspired by the daughters of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Inez appears in “Betty,” but she is not one of the three central perspectives represented by the connected songs.